HPV vaccinations go against ‘wishes of the Magistarium,’ Alberta Catholic school board head tells advocate

The chair of an Alberta Catholic school board has angrily rejected renewed calls to let his students be immunized against HPV in school, suggesting vaccine advocates were tempting children to defy teachings of the Church’s “Magistarium” and the word of Jesus himself.

Peter Grad, chair of the Medicine Hat Catholic School Board, concluded a terse email by urging a member of the group HPV Canada to stop “harassing” him.

The advocate had earlier asked him and the board to “save the children in your schools from getting cancer and other maladies.”

The exchange highlights the emotions that continue to swirl around the issue, and differing approaches to the human papillomavirus shots from various Catholic organizations. The vaccine protects against strains of the virus that cause 70% of cervical cancer.

Medicine Hat is among seven publicly funded boards in Alberta and one in Ontario — all Catholic — that will not allow children to be immunized against HPV in their facilities.

“Please save the children in our world from being tempted to go against the wishes of the Magistarium,” Mr. Grad wrote to the HPV Canada advocate, referring to Catholicism’s official teaching authority.

“Do you think maybe Jesus got it right? Please stop harassing me.”

Some Catholic leaders have objected to the vaccine on the basis that the shots protect against a sexually transmitted virus, while the church teaches young people to stay abstinent outside of marriage.

Juliet Guichon, co-founder of HPV Canada, which strives to increase uptake of the vaccine, called Mr. Grad’s comments “extreme.’’

“There is a focus on what adults want, rather than what children need,” said Ms. Guichon, a University of Calgary community-health professor. “In 20 years, there will be girls, who will then be women, traveling from Medicine Hat to the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary for treatment. This is serious.”

Mr. Grad said in an emailed statement that his response to the HPV Canada lobbyist “may not have been the best choice of words,” and was not made on behalf of the board.

‘Do you think maybe Jesus got it right?’

But he said the Medicine Hat trustees have twice voted on the issue, including once earlier this year, with the same result both times, and have no plans to revisit the question soon.

“As with all issues presented to the Board, we must eventually make a decision,” said the chair. “And we certainly understand that with many issues there are and will continue to be differences in opinions.”

Provincial governments across Canada pay for elementary-school girls to receive the immunization if they choose. Public-health experts are now pushing for boys to get the shot, too. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the vaccinations are given — on a voluntary basis — in school.

Ms. Guichon noted that the Vatican itself has not taken a position on the issue, which she argued means it tacitly approves of the HPV vaccine. Bishops in Alberta and Ontario have spoken out against it, but the church has taken no national position, said René Laprise, a spokesman for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.